How are you feeling?
I had a mix of emotions when the virus first broke here, I didn’t really pay much attention to the aggressive development as I had my focus elsewhere, my eye was on the target to wrap up my treatment for lymphoma cancer, which I just finished when society completely shut down. So I felt relief at being done of course, scared of being among the immune compromised, disappointed that we weren’t able to see family and friends to celebrate or just get on with the life that had already been on hold for 6 months. I had been looking forward to seeing family and friends more often, having dinners, going on weekend trips with my husband (we have a 16 month old babygirl and we have never had a get away just the two us since we had her). We had booked several family trips for the spring and summer and late summer that have all been canceled for the second summer in a row, due to my diagnosis. But all of that was actually OK, as I've been accustomed to changing plans and moving in different directions. It’s the little things that matters. I mostly just felt a huge amount of happiness and readiness for life and longed to celebrate with friends and family.
What are you doing to keep yourself well right now?
I’ve been so happy to get my tastebuds back and slowly gain more energy each day so I have made up for all the cooking I missed out on during treatment. It really soothes me to be in the kitchen. We’ve had a process heavy cooking project almost every day, it’s been such a satisfying activity to go through a process and end up with a result of the time and focus well spent. Daily walks in beautiful gardens and family biking in our cargo bike, supporting our friends and local community picking up lunches and deli goods. Also finally enjoying my wine again. 
What are you cooking?
It’s very much been about food with the power to emotionally soothe, or whatever was in the air on a particular day. Sometimes the sun was bursting and we would have aperitivo in our backyard with crisp salads and sardines, sometimes the weather and worried mind of what the world was in for would call for a healing broth or a mushroom bean stew. My husband took up sourdough baking and I am fermenting, juicing, making snacks, bars and developing ideas for lunches and dinners. And plenty of snacks for our baby girl delivered from small local farms.
What are you reading?
My list of what to read when I have more time on my hands. And sporadically Audible-ing Fanny Singer's, “Always Home” and Jenny Odells, “How To Do Nothing”. But right now I have some quality time to catch up with my baby so mostly children's books and especially browsing “Global Babies” with her these days.
What are you listening to?
I love Sade always. But I've been enjoying my friends Ally and Casey of Canyon Coffee’s Spotify playlists, especially Bossa California.
How are you keeping yourself calm?
We are moving in a couple of weeks to a very old, very beautiful and grand aristocratic apartment. The design process has been great at shifting my focus both creatively and hands on and has been comforting to focus on creating a beautiful and safe nest for our little family.
Any other tips or words of comfort you would like to share?
What these times can do is a simple moment to pause and “stop and smell the roses”. I had that shock in August last year and I’ve been smelling all the beautiful little roses of life every day. In this case, we’re all in it together, beating a virus that threatens our lust to live a free social and beautiful life united globally. Let’s take care of each other and embrace uniqueness, diversity. Let's inspire, learn, grow and change. And be grateful that we can socialize on our privileged digital platforms that let us connect and support each other from a distance.
